Liam Fox: UK must be able to end backstop

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox says the UK must have the ability to end any post-Brexit “backstop” arrangement, if it is to be able to deliver on the referendum result to leave the European Union.

Mr Fox told reporters the UK could not “sub-contract” that decision to other people after suggestions of a joint UK-EU mechanism for ending any deal.

The so-called backstop is being proposed as a way of guaranteeing that, whatever else happens, there is no return to a physical Northern Ireland border.

He also said that the cabinet needed to have the “fullest possible information” – including legal advice – before deciding whether to back a proposed Brexit deal.

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